I would like to suggest that the Elemental NPC get some alterations to benefit the traders and crafters more. This may influence the Salt market and make them less valuable but it is a needed change, imo.

Bonus info:
As it is now, Elemental NPC armies spawn on the Standing Stones squares and have a maximum capacity visible on the map. If no Elementals are killed anywhere on the map, no new Elementals will spawn on Standing Stones that are currently empty.
When The Broken Lands first opened - and I think for over 2 years - there were no Elementals in that section of the map and it was after Eowan brought it up that it was changed. I believe more change is needed in the Elemental department once again.

Changes:
My suggestion is to increase the army sizes on the newly spawned Elementals, from "Few and Handful" to "Several and Many" -- Possibly, Pack size too, or make the sizes increase to Pack over time. 
In addition to this change, the Salt drop rate should increase to match the new army sizes. 
If DEVS see a problem with the Earth and Fire elemental salts becoming too abundant with this change, they can just make those specific drop rates a bit less.

Consequences:
- This will obviously make them harder to kill, but my impression is that army sizes of players has increased significantly over the last few years. Players who previously thought a standing army of 20.000 was a lot, is no longer the case and instead players who have armies of 50.000 is considered to be medium/mediocre sized these days, depending on the troop type of course.
- This may influence the Salt market and make them less valuable but it is a needed change, imo.
- Crafted equipment will be easier to make in quantities a bit larger than previously and allow for more diverse tournament results if invested into as well as other interesting factors.


Thank you for reading and I hope you support this consideration.
Josh

Slightly larger groups of Elementals would be an interesting challenge.

The problem now is that there is a surplus of most everything.  As one of the few markets that hasnt bottomed out, elemental salts are important.  Many MMOs have collapsed due to goods oversaturation...when everything is easy to obtain, people get bored, then new more powerful items need to be introduced, and on and on.

I have well over 1000 salts in storage, and I dont even focus on them nor am I well positioned to go after them.  Ive seen many parts of the map absolutely riddled with elementals.

Its a similar sentiment to stimulus checks IRL, if everyone gets 'free' money, then money becomes less valuable and markets collapse.  Stimulus checks IRL make some sense in times like this because for many its the difference between starving or not...in Illy, I think we can survive without our Torment of Kerberos'es.